In the past, in order to move a bundle of objects, the bundle typically had to be manually tied together such that the unified bundle could be carried by hand. Examples of such objects include blue prints, fishing poles, clothing to be laundered, firewood, etc. The user would then carry the unified bundle by hand. When the unified bundle reached its destination, the user would then have to untie or cut the rope in order to release the individual objects from the bundle. Therefore, if the user wanted to move the remaining individual objects again, he would have to repeat the process of retying the rope or twine.
The process is very inefficient because of the time it takes to tie and untie the rope. In addition, there is the possibility that an individual object may accidentally fall out of the unified bundle causing the user to retie the individual objects again. Also, tying the bundle is inefficient because when the user desires to remove one individual object from the unified bundle, the rope would have to be untied in order to facilitate removal.
Also, once the unified bundle is dropped off at a location, it is often quite difficult to keep track of its location and identification. For example, if a unified bundle of laundry is dropped off at a laundry service establishment, quite often the establishment's employees need to individually mark each bundled item for tracking and identification purposes. This becomes quite tedious because the unified bundle must be separated in order to properly mark each item.
There are numerous prior art devices used to transport items. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,486,827 to Duncan, issued on Nov. 1, 1949, teaches the ability to use flexible straps such as rubber, fabric or leather to bundle and carry golf clubs. Two individual flexible straps running parallel to each other are fixedly attached to a rigid pole at one end. The opposite ends of the straps are fixedly attached to an endless looping device, such as a buckle. The straps are then feed through the endless looping device to create a self-tightening noose. When golf club shafts are placed within the self-tightening noose created by the flexible straps and when the rigid pole is lifted vertically, the weight of the golf club shafts cause the flexible straps to automatically tighten around the golf club shafts, thereby creating a tight grip around the golf club bundle. However, an apparent disadvantage of the '827 patent is that the flexible straps must be fixedly attached to an endless looping device. This severely limits the carrier's potential capabilities by placing a limit on the amount of items to be carried within the self-tightening noose as well as negating the ability of disassembling the noose if required. Furthermore, the flexible strap attachment point to the endless looping device creates a weak point that can cause frequent strap failure. Lastly, upon placement of elongated items into the carrier, the buckle will be in direct contact with the items. As such, the buckle will have a tendency to rub against and thus mar the items which are being carried. The present invention overcomes these limitations by, for example, removing the need for an endless looping device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,363 to Kalla, issued on Sep. 4, 1984, discloses a firewood carrier comprised of continuous length tendons with intersecting portions. The '363 patent's sling-carrier device uses parallel tendons of approximately equally length which criss-cross each other defining the intersection portions. The free ends of the tendons are looped under and extend beyond the closed end of the tendons to create a self-tightening loop. However, a limitation to the '363 patent is its inability to effectively handle smaller items because the handle length becomes increasingly large. As such, when a user carries smaller items, the bundled items will have a tendency to be dragged along the ground. Furthermore, the '363 patent's usefulness is limited due to the intersecting portions which subsequently limit the device's flexibility. The present invention overcomes these limitations by, for example, not requiring intersecting portions and being readily adaptable to bundling smaller items. Furthermore, the present invention utilizes a plurality of flexible straps, whereas the '363 patent uses a contiguous tendon.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,160 to Hoppeler, issued on Jan. 28, 1964, discloses a device for binding and facilitating the transportation of objects. The '160 patent uses a hollowed handle with a channel encapsulated therein. On the opposite side of the handle is fixedly attached a continuous rope, wherein one end of the rope is attached to one side of the handle and the other end of the rope is attached to the opposite side of the handle. To facilitate bundling, the '160 patent wraps the rope around elongated items and “locks” the rope into the channel on the hollow handle. However, a limitation to the '160 patent is its inability to automatically adjust the loop diameter, thus not being able to adequately tighten and secure elongated items within the loop. However, the present invention overcomes this limitation by, for example, providing a self-tightening noose, which can effectively bundle numerous configurations, sizes and amounts of elongated items.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,989 to Silberberg, issued on Feb. 16, 1988, discloses a sailboard carrying apparatus. The device consists of an elongated rod with two independent loops of flexible material. However, a limitation of the '989 patent is that the loops of flexible material cannot be easily adjusted. As such, the loops do not automatically tighten around the items being carried and thus allow the items to easily fall out. The present invention overcomes this limitation by, for example, allowing the nooses to automatically tighten around elongated items by displacing their weight, thus further securing the items while they are being carried.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,248 to Ryan, issued on Mar. 17, 1992, discloses a bundling handle. The bundling handle contains a handle fixedly attached to one end of a single strap and a buckle at the other end of the strap. The device creates a self-tightening loop by wrapping the handle and strap portion around a load to be bundled and inserting the handle through the buckle portion. When the handle is lifted vertically, the vertical upward force displaces the weight of the items being carried, thus automatically tightening the loop around the items. However, a limitation to the '248 patent is that it is not practical for bundling and carrying elongated items because there is only one strap creating the carrying loop. As such, when long items are bundled and carried in the '248 patent, they are balanced awkwardly and the user does not maintain proper control. The present invention overcomes this limitation by, for example, using a longer handle which allows the attachment of a plurality of independent flexible straps to be spaced apart. This subsequently creates more stabilizing loops which can easily and controllably carry elongated items.